French cleat storage design


mayoutze

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  • 7 months later...

Thanks for the ideas. I'm thinking about going this route in my garage and wondered if anybody uses it for hanging rakes, shovels, brooms, torque wrenches, etc. Does it work well for you?

Also, has anybody had an issue where something fell off? I'm sure there's some point where if you make it top-heavy, it will pull off the wall.

Thanks!

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I use a French Cleat throughout the shop. This is how I have my clamps. Works very well and stores a lot in a small space.

I am re doing my clamp rack to fit more clamps, and I have the Jet's also. How many can you fit sideways like that? I did the math and at 4 I did not save any space, but it looks like you have 6. If that is the case then I can max my space out better. Oh and buy more clamps!!!!

Shawn

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Shawn, With this configuration, I can fit 6/7 (comfortably 6). But, you could make the throat deeper and come down the wall further for more clamps per unit. 6 just happened to be what I built. I have a BS blade box on the wall and many other hangers. They aren't hard to make or design. Let me know if you'd like more information on what I've done and I can post photos. Alas, I SUCK at SketchUp, so nothing is designed in there, or on paper for that matter. As I said, they are quite simple.

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@Michael: No problem hanging shovels and rakes and brooms using a French cleat system.

post-685-0-74986700-1302363136_thumb.jpg

@mayoutze: Nice looking holders in your sketchup file. I do have a suggestion, though. I have found that my holders are a lot more stable if they include a part below the cleat that bears against the wall. The picture above shows what I mean.

@Everyone: If you're going to be making a whole bunch of holders, start by making one or more long "blanks" as shown here. Then when it's time to make a holder, just whack off a piece of the blank as long as you need and you'll be halfway done.

post-685-0-57509100-1302363183_thumb.jpg

-- Russ

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@Michael: No problem hanging shovels and rakes and brooms using a French cleat system.

post-685-0-74986700-1302363136_thumb.jpg

@mayoutze: Nice looking holders in your sketchup file. I do have a suggestion, though. I have found that my holders are a lot more stable if they include a part below the cleat that bears against the wall. The picture above shows what I mean.

@Everyone: If you're going to be making a whole bunch of holders, start by making one or more long "blanks" as shown here. Then when it's time to make a holder, just whack off a piece of the blank as long as you need and you'll be halfway done.

post-685-0-57509100-1302363183_thumb.jpg

-- Russ

Russ, every time I see more of your painted shop I get the urge to go buy a bunch of colors and paint mine!

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@Michael: No problem hanging shovels and rakes and brooms using a French cleat system.

Thanks for the pics. Gives me an idea of exactly what I want to do.

I just bought a few pieces of 1x4 so hopefully I can get started on this tomorrow. This seems kind of like a fun project to do between major ones. Plus, it can give you practice on building shelves and other gadgets.

Thanks!

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Thanks for the pics. Gives me an idea of exactly what I want to do.

I just bought a few pieces of 1x4 so hopefully I can get started on this tomorrow. This seems kind of like a fun project to do between major ones. Plus, it can give you practice on building shelves and other gadgets.

Thanks!

Michael, as you can see in my photos, these are very utilitarian. Pocket screws and ply. The don't take any time at all. When I need to hang something I just whip one together from ply scraps.

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For the french cleat, did you use a 1x4 and cut it at a 45 degree? Have you ever had an issue of it falling off?

Michael, I use 3/4" ply and yes the cut is 45*. I usually use a block plane to take a little off the point of the bevel, so it seats better. As far as anything falling off...no. But as Russ wrote, having the hanger go further down the wall does add stability. My drafting table and computer desk are both on French cleats, also. I have also screwed those hangers to the wall for additional support. I really dislike having any place that I can't easily clean, so either a piece come into full contact with the floor or not at all. The exception is my Craftsman tool chest, for which I will eventually build a base for.

post-8-0-11253800-1302452993_thumb.jpg

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For the french cleat, did you use a 1x4 and cut it at a 45 degree? Have you ever had an issue of it falling off?

3/4" plywood here, also with a 45 degree bevel and never any problems with the holders falling off the cleats. Same as Vic (only painted :)).

-- Russ

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Thanks all for the information again! I really like not having anything on the floor either because it makes it so much easier to clean. I had some long wire shelves in my old garage, but I found that by using them, it kind of just let things pile up and not really a particular 'spot' for stuff.

I just moved into my new house a few months ago, and I'm going to have to start building something to keep things off the floor. I love the idea of the french cleat because you can hook them or move them wherever.

One last question... You mentioned you made the cleat out of 3/4" plywood. How wide did you cut it? It looks like it might be 4". I'd rather learn from somebody that already went through this than figure out I made it too thin.

Thanks!

Mike

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When I made mine, I was trying to use my material efficiently. So I ripped eight 5-7/8" wide strips from a normal 48" plywood panel. (That's 6" minus 1/8" for the saw kerf.) Then I split each one of those down the middle on a 45 degree bevel. That made the cleats just under 3-1/4" wide on the wide side away from the wall, and gave me 64 lineal feet of cleat stock from each sheet of plywood.

Here are some plans from a guy who just made his 3" wide:

http://benchmark.20m.com/plans/FrenchCleat.pdf

I'd say anything in that neighborhood would be fine if you can screw them to the wall every 16". If your studs are on 24" centers, then you might think about making the cleats a little wider.

-- Russ

post-685-0-72592800-1302548119_thumb.gif

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Thanks for the post! I have french cleats up in the shop and I love them--especially the size you have in the sketchup drawing. I may have to steal a couple of those!

The nice thing about them is I feel like I don't have to commit to where every tool goes--I can rearrange as my shop evolves.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm going to go with cleats when I get siding on the 8' walls in my shop in the next couple of weeks. Was thinking of at least two cleats per wall, one towards the top, and one more close to center. Is there any secret to figuring out what height to hang them at? Perhaps two at a sub counter height for storage under there, then two above counter height for hanging cabinets?

How did ya'll determine what height to hang your at?

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I'm going to go with cleats when I get siding on the 8' walls in my shop in the next couple of weeks. Was thinking of at least two cleats per wall, one towards the top, and one more close to center. Is there any secret to figuring out what height to hang them at? Perhaps two at a sub counter height for storage under there, then two above counter height for hanging cabinets?

How did ya'll determine what height to hang your at?

The beauty of using French cleats is you hang them however you need them. So, look at what you're storing and install them accordingly.

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